Le Balafre dared not speak aloud in such a presence, but he muttered to himself,
"Now, Saunders Souplejaw, hold thine own! -- thou always saidst the fortune of our house was to be won by marriage, and never had you such a chance to keep your word with us."
"No one thinks of me," said Le Glorieux, "who am sure to carry off the prize from all of you."
"Right, my sapient friend," said Louis, laughing, "when a woman is in the case, the greatest fool is ever the first in favour."
While the princes and their nobles thus jested over her fate, the Abbess and the Countess of Crevecoeur endeavoured in vain to console Isabelle, who had withdrawn with them from the council-presence. The former assured her that the Holy Virgin would frown on every attempt to withdraw a true votaress from the shrine of Saint Ursula; while the Countess of Crevecoeur whispered more temporal consolation, that no true knight, who might succeed in the enterprise proposed, would avail himself, against her inclinations, of the Duke's award; and that perhaps the successful competitor might prove one who should find such favour in her eyes as to reconcile her to obedience. Love, like despair, catches at straws; and, faint and vague as was the hope which this insinuation conveyed, the tears of the Countess Isabelle flowed more placidly while she dwelt upon it.
(Saint Ursula: the patron saint of young girls. Tradition says she was martyred by the Huns, together with her eleven thousand companions. Her history has been painted by Carpacelo and by Hans Memling.)
英雄赢得美女诚一佳事。
《巴拉丁的伯爵》
当昆丁•达威特回到佩隆时，公爵正在召集一个会议。会议的结果与昆丁个人关系之密切超出了他可能的想象。尽管出席会议者都是一些地位显赫的贵族，像他这种地位卑微的人很难设想会与他们有什么利益相同之处，然而实际上会议却对他的命运具有极不寻常的影响。
在德拉马克的特使演出了那一出插曲之后，伴随这个情况公爵重新对路易王产生了好感，路易王则不失时机地对之加以培养和鼓励。他一直在就他们共同讨伐列日时，他该率领的辅助部队的数量和质量和公爵进行协商，或者说，在征求他的意见。但他明显地看出，查尔斯只是希望把少数地位高的法国人吸引进他的营垒，与其说把他们看作支援者，不如说把他们当成人质。但路易接受克雷维格的意见，对公爵的任何建议都表示欣然同意，就仿佛它们都是他自己灵机一动想出来的。
然而，就在他不得不讨好公爵的同时，他还是没有忘记对那以其出的坏点子促使他对勃艮第公爵过分信任的巴卢主教发泄他的仇恨。领旨前去调动支援部队的特里斯顿还负有一个附带的使命：将红衣主教押往罗歇城堡，关进一个据说是由他自己设计和发明的铁笼。
“让他试验一下他自己的杰作吧！”国王说道，“他是神圣教会的人。我们不能杀他。但老天爷在上！我得叫他的主教辖区在未来的十年当中将有一个牢不可破的边界来弥补其狭小的面积！你得保证马上把军队调上来。”
也许路易王想通过立即表示顺从以回避公爵同意和他和解时提出的较难接受的条件。然而，如果他怀抱这种希望，那他就大大误解了他堂弟的性格，因为世界上没有谁比勃艮第•查尔斯更执着于自己的既定目标。他决不愿放松在他自认为受到的损害进行泄愤或报复时给对方提出来的任何条件。
一当路易派出了必要的信使去调动选作支援力量的部队之后，公爵便要求他对奥尔良公爵和克罗伊埃•伊莎贝尔的婚约公开表示同意。国王深深地叹了口气，无可奈何，只得照办；但过后马上提出了一个小小的保留，理由是必须考虑奥尔良公爵本人的意愿。
“我们并没有忽视他的意愿，”勃艮第公爵说道，“克雷维格已经和奥尔良先生谈过，发现他（说也奇怪）对当驸马的荣誉十分不感兴趣，却欣然接受了与克罗伊埃伯爵小姐成婚的建议，认为这是一个当父亲的可能向他提出的最慈爱的建议。”
“他是个忘恩负义的人，”路易说道，“不过，好堂弟，只要你能使双方都同意，促成这门婚事，那就全听你的吧。”
“不必担心。”公爵说道。就在这事刚提出没几分钟，奥尔良公爵和克罗伊埃伯爵小姐——也像前次那样，由克雷维格伯爵夫人和乌尔苏林女修道院长搀扶着——便被召到两位君王面前。她们看到路易王默默地坐着，意识到自己被贬低了地位而郁郁不乐。查尔斯则在路易王不置可否的情况下亲口向他们宣布，两位贤明的君主已为他们订下了终身大事，以确保法国与勃艮第未来的永久同盟。
奥尔良公爵听到这一宣布时好不容易才抑制住内心的喜悦。他知道，在路易工面前表现这种喜悦于礼不合。只是由于对国王一贯的敬畏，他才收敛住快乐的面容，仅仅回答说，他的职责使他只能接受他的君主为他作出的选择。
“我的奥尔良贤侄，”路易带着愠怒的严肃表情说道，“既然我必须在如此不愉快的一个场合表明我的态度，我想我无须提醒你，我对你的优点作过很高的评价，我曾想在我的家庭范围内为你安排婚事。不过，既然我的勃艮第堂弟认为，为你另作安排最能保证他的领土和我的领土之间的和睦，而我对法兰西和勃艮第也都怀有深厚感情，自然不能不为它们牺牲我自己的希望和意愿。”
奥尔良公爵顿时跪倒在国王膝下。国王转过脸去把手伸给他。他总算有这么一次是带着真诚的感情吻了这只手。实际上，他也和大多数在场的人一样，通过这位老练的伪君子的勉强同意——即使他有意伪装，也无法掩饰其勉强——看出国王是在忍痛放弃他的得意计划，在为了政治的需要和国家的利益牺牲他对儿女的感情。甚至勃艮第也颇受感动。奥尔良则由于看到自己摆脱了与让娜公主的婚约情不自禁地感到欢喜。假如他知道国王在灵魂深处如何在诅咒他，他激起的是何等刻毒的伺机报复的念头，那么他在这个场合也许会考虑得更周到一些。
接着查尔斯转向年轻的伯爵小姐，向她粗率地宣布为她安排的这件婚事，并申明既不容她迟疑，也不容她推延。他还补充说，这是对她前次抗上罪作出的一个十分留情的处置。
“我的公爵和君主，”伊莎贝尔鼓起勇气说道，“我服从并接受您的命令。”
“行了，行了，”公爵打断她说道，“其余的事由我们来安排。陛下，”他转向路易王继续说道，“您今早猎了野猪，下午猎猎狼如何？”
年轻的伯爵小姐看到已有必要来个破釜沉舟。“殿下误解了我的意思，”她胆怯而坚定地大声说道，以迫使公爵注意听她讲话，因为她意识到，要不这样公爵就会对她不屑一顾，“我的服从，”她说道，“只是针对殿下的祖辈授予我的祖辈的产业而言的。如果我的君主认为我在这一问题上抗命不从使我不配再享有这些产业的话，我现在把它们归还给勃艮第家族。”
“唉！圣乔治在上！”公爵狠狠地顿足说道，“你这傻瓜，你知道你是在谁的面前这么放肆吗？你是在对谁说话吗？”
“大人，”她仍然镇定自若地说道，“我是在对我的宗主说话，而我相信他为人公正。如果您剥夺了我的田产，您就剥夺了您的祖辈慷慨给予我们家的东西，而您也就打断了把我们联系在一起的惟一纽带。我这饱受迫害的可怜人的躯体并非您的赐予，就更不用说那鼓舞着我的精神和灵魂。至于我的肉体和灵魂，我准备献给上帝。我打算在这位女修道院长的指引下，在乌苏尔林修道院里度过我的余生。”
公爵听了这个话真是惊奇、恼怒得难以想象。我们只能以老鹰见到一只小鸽子公然敢在自己面前抖抖翅膀所感到的惊异加以比拟。“你没有产业，修道院长会接受你吗？”他用鄙夷的声调说道。
“如果院长竟然因此而辜负修道院的宗旨，”伊莎贝尔小姐说道，“那么我相信我们家族的贵族亲友也会表现出足够的仁慈，为克罗伊埃的孤儿提供某种帮助。”
“这是装腔作势！”公爵说道，“这是一种企图掩盖某种见不得人的情欲的卑鄙借口。奥尔良公爵，她是属于你的——哪怕我得亲手把她拽到圣坛跟前和你同拜上帝！”
克雷维格伯爵夫人是个勇敢的女性，并对自己丈夫的功劳以及公爵对他的倚重都很自信。这时她感到再也沉默不下去。“大人，”她说道，“您的愤怒已使您出言不逊了。贵族家庭的仕女是不能强迫成婚的。”
“一个奉行基督之道的君主，”那女修道院院长也附合着说道，“也不应阻挠一个饱尝烦优和迫害的虔诚姑娘使自己成为上帝之女的愿望。”
“再说，”杜诺瓦讲道，“我的奥尔良堂弟也不可能接受这位小姐如此公开反对的一门亲事，他要保持自己的体面。”
“要是能给我一点时间，”奥尔良说道，伊莎贝尔的美丽显然已在他那容易动情的心上留下了深刻印象，“我将能更好地向伯爵小姐说明值得她接受我的理由——”
“大人，”伊莎贝尔说道，由于受到各方面的支持和鼓励她已坚定了自己的决心，“这没有什么必要——我已决心谢绝这门婚事，尽管它对我来说是攀龙附凤。”
“我没有时间等你到下次月亮转圆时再来改变你的怪念头——奥尔良先生，不出一个小时之内，她就会懂得，服从君命是她惟一的出路。”
“殿下，这可不应该是为了我的缘故，”奥尔良亲王回答道，他感到他不可能体面地继续利用公爵这种顽固性格来为自己获得好处，“作为一个法国的王位继承人，遭到公开的毫不含糊的拒绝，一次就够受的了。我不能再继续向她求婚。”
公爵向奥尔良和路易投去愤怒的目光。他看见路易虽然尽量在克制自己，但脸上还是流露出暗自得意的表情，顿时感到怒不可遏。
“你写，”他对秘书说道，“对这个敢于抗命的无礼的奴才，我要剥夺她的封地，判她终身监禁！我得把她送往教养院、感化院，把她和那些像她一样傲慢无礼的家伙关在一起！”
这时，在座的人们中间出现了一阵喃喃低语声。
“公爵大人，”克雷维格伯爵代表众人的心意说道，“这事可得再好好想想。作为您忠实的臣仆，我们无法接受对勃艮第的贵族和骑士阶级所给的这种耻辱待遇。如果伯爵小姐有过错，可以让她受到惩罚一但惩罚的方式应当适合她本人的地位，也适合我们这些与她家有血统和姻亲关系的人们所享有的地位。”
公爵思考了片刻，眼睛直直地盯着这位谋臣，样子就像是一头公牛被放牛娃硬要从它走的路上赶走，正在考虑究竟是顺从，还是向赶它的人冲过去，把他撞个倒栽葱。
然而，审慎终归战胜了恼怒——他看到在座的人当中普遍带有这种情绪，同时也担心路易发现他的臣属存在不满，会因此得到好处。最后，也可能是他对自己这一不光彩的做法感到羞愧——因为他毕竟不是天性歹毒，而只是性格粗暴。
“克雷维格，你讲得对，”他说道，“我话说得欠考虑。应该按骑士团的法规来决定她的命运。她逃亡到列日是造成主教遇害的导火线。谁能为主教复仇立下头等功，并能斩获‘阿登内斯野猪’的首级，谁就有权要求我将她许配给他。如果她不承认他这个权利，我至少可以把她的封地赏给他，而由他决定是否慷慨地给她留下一点钱财，让她进修道院。”
“不行！”伯爵小姐说道，“请您想想，我是您父亲勇敢而忠实的老仆人雷诺尔德伯爵的女儿。难道您愿意把我当作一个奖品，赏给最优秀的武士吗？”
“你的祖母是你祖父通过比武赢得的，”公爵说道，“而要赢得你必须通过真刀真枪的战斗。不过，看在雷诺尔德伯爵的分上，我规定获奖者必须是一个出身和教养都无可非议的绅士。但只要够这个条件，哪怕是贫穷的武士也有资格做你的丈夫。凭圣乔治，凭我戴的公爵冠冕和骑士勋章，我发誓，这个诺言一定兑现！嘿！先生们，”他转过身来对在场的贵族补充说道，“我想这总符合骑士团的法规吧？”
伊莎贝尔反对的呼声淹没于众人一片赞同欢腾声中。人们听到盖过这声音的是年老的克劳福德大公发出的惋惜声，抱憾自己年龄太大，不能力争得这样一个美女进行奋战。公爵对这普遍的赞同声感到很满意。就像涨水的河流又降回到原来的水位，流在天然的河岸之间那样，他的脾气也开始变得平和起来。
“难道我们这些命该娶有妻妾的人就该在这场竞赛中袖手旁观吗？”克雷维格说，“就我来说，这样做与我的荣誉感很不相符，因为我个人许了一个愿，我得用德拉马克这个有獠牙和刺毛的野猪来还这个愿。”
“勇敢地干吧，克雷维格，”公爵说道，“把她赢过来。虽然你不能娶她，但你可以高兴把她赏给谁就赏给谁。假如你愿意，你可以把她赠给你的侄儿斯蒂芬伯爵。”
“好呀，我的大人！”克雷维格说道，“我会在战斗中尽力而为。要是我有幸成为优胜者，斯蒂芬还得和女修道院长去比比口才哩。”
“我想，”杜诺瓦说道，“法国的骑士没被除在这个公平的竞赛之外吧？”
“你放心，勇敢的杜诺瓦，”公爵回答道，“哪怕是为了保证你发挥最大的力量，也不能容许这样做！不过，”他又补充说道，“伊莎贝尔小姐嫁给法国人固然没有什么不好，但这位克罗伊埃伯爵可得成为勃艮第的臣属。”
“得了，得了，”杜诺瓦说道，“我纹章左侧的上方永不会覆上一个克罗伊埃的冠冕——我将生为法国人，死为法国鬼。不过，尽管我会失去这块封地，我还是要为这位小姐奋战一番。”
巴拉弗雷在这些贵人面前不敢大声表态，但他喃喃自语道：“桑德斯•苏卜勒乔呀，你说话可该兑现了！你过去经常说，我们家族将通过婚姻发迹。现在正是你兑现你对我们的预言的大好时机。”
“没人想到我，”勒格洛里尔说道，“而我最有把握从你们手上夺去这个奖赏。”
“聪明的朋友，你说得很对，”路易说道，“就女人而言，的确总是最大的傻瓜最先赢得她的青睐。”
两位君王及其贵族拿着伊莎贝尔的命运如此开玩笑，那女修道院长和克雷维格伯爵夫人从会议厅退出来之后也只好设法对她多加劝慰而已。女修道院长向她保证说，圣母将谴责想把忠诚的信徒和圣乌尔苏拉的圣殿隔绝起来的任何企图。而克雷维格伯爵夫人则轻轻向她耳里灌输些更为世俗的安慰。她说，任何真正的骑士，都不会由于竞赛得胜，在违反她本人意愿的情况下，利用公爵的奖赏来获得好处。再说，优胜者也可能会得到她的好感，从而使得服从不是什么苦事。爱情，就像行将没顶的人那样，即使存有一线希望，也会抓住不放的。这句暗示的话带给她的希望虽然朦胧而微弱，但当伊莎贝尔小姐往这上面更多地想想时，眼泪不觉已有所收敛，而不像先前那样籁然而下了。
Chapter 36 The Sally
The wretch condemn'd with life to part, Still, still on hope relies, And every pang that rends the heart, Bids expectation rise.
Hope, like the glimmering taper's light, Adorns and cheers the way; And still, the darker grows the night, Emits a brighter ray.
GOLDSMITH
Few days had passed ere Louis had received, with a smile of gratified vengeance, the intelligence that his favourite and his councillor, the Cardinal Balue, was groaning within a cage of iron, so disposed as scarce to permit him to enjoy repose in any posture except when recumbent, and of which, be it said in passing, he remained the unpitied tenant for nearly twelve years. The auxiliary forces which the Duke had required Louis to bring up had also appeared, and he comforted himself that their numbers were sufficient to protect his person against violence, although too limited to cope, had such been his purpose, with the large army of Burgundy. He saw himself also at liberty, when time should suit, to resume his project of marriage between his daughter and the Duke of Orleans; and, although he was sensible to the indignity of serving with his noblest peers under the banners of his own vassal, and against the people whose cause he had abetted, he did not allow these circumstances to embarrass him in the meantime, trusting that a future day would bring him amends.
"For chance," said he to his trusty Oliver, "may indeed gain one hit, but it is patience and wisdom which win the game at last."
With such sentiments, upon a beautiful day in the latter end of harvest, the King mounted his horse; and, indifferent that he was looked upon rather as a part of the pageant of a victor, than in the light of an independent Sovereign surrounded by his guards and his chivalry, King Louis sallied from under the Gothic gateway of Peronne, to join the Burgundian army, which commenced at the same time its march against Liege.
Most of the ladies of distinction who were in the place attended, dressed in their best array, upon the battlements and defences of the gate, to see the gallant show of the warriors setting forth on the expedition. Thither had the Countess Crevecoeur brought the Countess Isabelle. The latter attended very reluctantly, but the peremptory order of Charles had been, that she who was to bestow the palm in the tourney should be visible to the knights who were about to enter the lists.
As they thronged out from under the arch, many a pennon and shield was to be seen, graced with fresh devices, expressive of the bearer's devoted resolution to become a competitor for a prize so fair. Here a charger was painted starting for the goal -- there an arrow aimed at a mark -- one knight bore a bleeding heart, indicative of his passion -- another a skull and a coronet of laurels, showing his determination to win or die. Many others there were; and some so cunningly intricate and obscure, that they might have defied the most ingenious interpreter. Each knight, too, it may be presumed, put his courser to his mettle, and assumed his most gallant seat in the saddle, as he passed for a moment under the view of the fair bevy of dames and damsels, who encouraged their valour by their smiles, and the waving of kerchiefs and of veils. The Archer Guard, selected almost at will from the flower of the Scottish nation, drew general applause, from the gallantry and splendour of their appearance.
And there was one among these strangers who ventured on a demonstration of acquaintance with the Lady Isabelle, which had not been attempted even by the most noble of the French nobility. It was Quentin Durward, who, as he passed the ladies in his rank, presented to the Countess of Croye, on the point of his lance, the letter of her aunt.
"Now, by my honour," said the Count of Crevecoeur, "that is over insolent in an unworthy adventurer!"
"Do not call him so, Crevecoeur," said Dunois; "I have good reason to bear testimony to his gallantry -- and in behalf of that lady, too."
"You make words of nothing," said Isabelle, blushing with shame, and partly with resentment; "it is a letter from my unfortunate aunt. -- She writes cheerfully, though her situation must be dreadful."
"Let us hear, let us hear what says the Boar's bride," said Crevecoeur.
The Countess Isabelle read the letter, in which her aunt seemed determined to make the best of a bad bargain, and to console herself for the haste and indecorum of her nuptials, by the happiness of being wedded to one of the bravest men of the age, who had just acquired a princedom by his valour. She implored her niece not to judge of her William (as she called him) by the report of others, but to wait till she knew him personally. He had his faults, perhaps, but they were such as belonged to characters whom she had ever venerated. William was rather addicted to wine, but so was the gallant Sir Godfrey, her grandsire -- he was something hasty and sanguinary in his temper, such had been her brother Reinold of blessed memory; he was blunt in speech, few Germans were otherwise; and a little wilful and peremptory, but she believed all men loved to rule. More there was to the same purpose; and the whole concluded with the hope and request that Isabelle would, by means of the bearer, endeavour her escape from the tyrant of Burgundy, and come to her loving kinswoman's Court of Liege, where any little differences concerning their mutual rights of succession to the Earldom might be adjusted by Isabelle's marrying Earl Eberson -- a bridegroom younger indeed than his bride, but that, as she (the Lady Hameline) might perhaps say from experience, was an inequality more easy to be endured than Isabelle could be aware of.
(The marriage of William de la Marck with the Lady Hameline is as apocryphal as the lady herself. -- S.)
Here the Countess Isabelle stopped, the Abbess observing, with a prim aspect, that she had read quite enough concerning such worldly vanities, and the Count of Crevecoeur, breaking out, "Aroint thee, deceitful witch! -- Why, this device smells rank as the toasted cheese in a rat trap. -- Now fie, and double fie, upon the old decoy duck!"
The Countess of Crevecoeur gravely rebuked her husband for his violence.
"The Lady," she said, "must have been deceived by De la Marck with a show of courtesy."
"He show courtesy!" said the Count. "I acquit him of all such dissimulation. You may as well expect courtesy from a literal wild boar, you may as well try to lay leaf gold on old rusty gibbet irons. No -- idiot as she is, she is not quite goose enough to fall in love with the fox who has snapped her, and that in his very den. But you women are all alike -- fair words carry it -- and, I dare say, here is my pretty cousin impatient to join her aunt in this fool's paradise, and marry the Bear Pig."
"So far from being capable of such folly," said Isabelle, "I am doubly desirous of vengeance on the murderers of the excellent Bishop, because it will, at the same time, free my aunt from the villain's power."
"Ah! there indeed spoke the voice of Croye!" exclaimed the Count, and no more was said concerning the letter.
But while Isabelle read her aunt's epistle to her friends, it must be observed that she did not think it necessary to recite a certain postscript, in which the Countess Hameline, lady-like, gave an account of her occupations, and informed her niece that she had laid aside for the present a surcoat which she was working for her husband, bearing the arms of Croye and La Marck in conjugal fashion, parted per pale, because her William had determined, for purposes of policy, in the first action to have others dressed in his coat armour and himself to assume the arms of Orleans, with a bar sinister -- in other words, those of Dunois. There was also a slip of paper in another hand, the contents of which the Countess did not think it necessary to mention, being simply these words: "If you hear not of me soon, and that by the trumpet of Fame, conclude me dead, but not unworthy."
A thought, hitherto repelled as wildly incredible, now glanced with double keenness through Isabelle's soul. As female wit seldom fails in the contrivance of means, she so ordered it that ere the troops were fully on march, Quentin Durward received from an unknown hand the billet of Lady Hameline, marked with three crosses opposite to the postscript, and having these words subjoined: "He who feared not the arms of Orleans when on the breast of their gallant owner, cannot dread them when displayed on that of a tyrant and murderer."
